Remember
by PokerFace312
Summary: Shion returns to Hinamizawa at the same time that Dr. Irie finds a cure for the Hinamizawa Syndrome and a certain person awakens. But how is the cure really foolproof? And have they really escaped the disease that seperated them for so long?
1. Remember You

Chapter 1: Remember You

The road flies beneath me as my car speeds along the highway, the sun blazing down at it nears its zenith. It's mid-June of Showa 56, almost two years since I left. I've been in Tokyo since I graduated, studying psychology at a university there. I'm hoping that by doing so I might be able to help Satoshi-kun more. I was hoping to go into neuro studies actually, but even after applying myself more after I learned of his condition I wasn't able to get my grades up to what they would need to be.

I was nervous about going to Tokyo at first, worried that it would cause the dormant Hinamizawa Syndrome that I, along with all of the other villagers, have to awaken in me. Because of this, I went to Irie before we left and we made sure that I knew the symptoms to watch out for as well as he gave me a syringe of and a small vile of a clear liquid, telling me to inject myself with it and return to Hinamizawa if I noticed any of them.

That's not the reason I'm returning though. I luckily haven't noticed anything to suggest that I'm beginning to lose my sanity. Instead, I'm coming because of a call I got from Onee last week telling me that Kei-chan finally proposed to her. They'd started going out about a month before I left, after Onee had finally built up the courage to confess to him. I'm happy they've worked out. I haven't told anyone I'm coming though. I thought it'd be more fun to surprise them.

Just then, I see the same sign that Kasai pointed out to me years ago when he helped me escape from St. Lucia Academy. Smiling, I flip on the car's radio and whisper to myself, "Welcome home, Shion."

* * *

><p>"Shion! What are you doing here?" Onee exclaims after opening the door to find me standing there.<p>

"What? You didn't think I was going to congratulate my big sister properly?" I ask, "It looks like I'm going to have to work harder if I want to steal Kei-chan from you."

Her face flushes and she looked peeved, but when she sees my joking smile she starts giggling. Before I know it we're both laughing. It seems that still hasn't changed. We're still sisters.

I can't help but feel a pang of jealousy when I see the ring sparkling on her finger though. Technically I'm the oldest, even if no one accepts it anymore. If things had gone differently one that day all those years ago, maybe I'd be the one getting engaged. I wouldn't want to marry Kei-chan though. He's a bit too childish and rough, much better suited for that Onee than me.

I walk through the door and Onee and I talk for a while. She tells me what's happened since I left: What stores have opened and closed, that Rika-chama was confessed to by some kid named Okamura, that Rena still goes on those "treasure hunts" of hers once in a while…

After a while, the conversation shifts to Satoko and I find my thoughts drifting to Satoshi-kun. I remember that cold room with the beeping monitors under the Irie Clinic. Is he still there? Is he still strapped down? "Hey…" I say slowly, nervously, "Has… Has Satoshi-kun returned?" I shouldn't ask. I'm the only one aside from the manager who even knows what's going on with him. "I see," I murmur before she can reply. She doesn't have to. I can tell the answer from the expression on her face. "Is Irie still working at the clinic?" I ask brightly after a moment of silence.

"Huh? Yeah, of course. He's still coaching the Hinamizawa Fighters too. They're probably practicing right now, actually."

"At the field in Okinomiya?"

"Yeah, I believe so."

"I'm going to see him," I proclaim, grabbing my bag off the floor as I get up from my chair and head for the door.

* * *

><p>My hair whips around my face as I wind my fingers into the chain link fence that surrounds the baseball diamond. Irie's sitting on the bench with his back turned to me. I don't think he's noticed me yet, so I call his name.<p>

"Shion-san!" he calls as he stands up and walks over, "I didn't know you were coming back!"

"I wanted it to be a surprise," I state before continuing meekly, "Is Satoshi-kun still…?" I don't finish. He knows what I mean.

"…Yeah," he replies after a quick pause, "Would you like to see him once practice is over?" He says it just loud enough for me to hear. No one else knows about it and we'd like to keep it that way. I just offer a quick nod of approval.

* * *

><p>He leads me down into the clinic's basement a while later. It doesn't seem to have changed since I last saw it. Same bland beige walls and cold concrete floor, the ceiling dotted every meter or two with flat rectangular lights. Irie opens the mechanical door with his key card and I rush in just like I did the first time I was here. Unlike that time though, I stop in front of another door rather than the large observation window and Irie lets me in this one as well.<p>

"Satoshi-kun!" I say as I step through. He's here of course, sleeping with a peaceful expression as the heart monitor beeps beside him. "He's not tied up anymore…" I think aloud, noticing that the thick leather straps that had held him down by the arms and legs are gone.

"I tried an experimental cure on him the other day. I'm not sure exactly how well it worked. But it seems that he at least won't try to scratch his throat anymore."

I wince at the reminder of this. "…Can I stay with him for a little while? I just want to talk to him a bit…"

"Sure. That phone connects directly to my office upstairs," he nods towards a phone hanging on the wall as he turns to leave, "If you need anything, just call me with it. I'll let you two be alone."

Once he's gone, I walk over and sit on the floor beside the bed. There's no chair, but I don't care. I just sit there talking about whatever comes to mind. I tell him about Tokyo, my friends there, my classes, the city itself... Once I can't think of anything more to say about that, I move on to repeating what Onee told me earlier, what I can remember of it at least.

"I wish you'd talk to me," I murmur once I finish talking about Satoko, "I'm not blaming you or anything, of course! I know it isn't your fault. I just miss you…" My heads gotten a little heavy by now, so I rest it on my arm, propped on the side of the bed. Now that I've moved my head, I've realized that there are tears on the corners of my eyes. I close my eyes before continuing, not wanting to cry. "I want to walk with you again. I want to go shopping with you again. I want you to pet my head again…" It's all spilling out now. I've gotten used to him not being around, and it makes me feel so guilty. I just want to see his smile again, if nothing else. "Satoshi-kun…!

I stay there for a minute, sobbing quietly. I can almost imagine him petting my head like he used to, almost feel the warmth of his hand…

Wait

I open my eyes to see his head turned towards my, eyes opened slightly and a look of pained concern present on his face. I wasn't imagining him petting my head, he really is.

"Satoshi…kun?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN:** And so I'm starting yet another fic despite having not finished one in almost a year... I will finish them all! Just you wait! _

_Anyway, this is something that I've been wanting to write since finishing watching Higurashi over a year ago and learning that Satoshi-kun never comes back. Actually, I read on a YouTube comment yesterday that he does come back in one of the arcs in the novel's remake. Is this true? OwO That aside, I love Shion and Satoshi-kun's characters, as well as their undoubtably my favorite anime couple, so I really hope I wrote them well._

_I tried to keep the way this was written similar to the sound novels - I don't typically write in first person present tense for one thing - and I also hope I did okay on that. _

_The thing is, I haven't actually decided how this will end. I have two ideas, but they're quite different and I'm not sure which I like better. I'll probably just end up playing with both for a while then posting the one I prefer. Do I want a happy end or a sad one... hmmm... I'm better at writing sad things (I think...) but my inner fangirl is screaming at me to give them their happy ending. This could be tough._

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and its characters belong to 07th Expansion and Ryukishi07. All property belongs to their respective owners. I own nothing but my imagination.


	2. Remember Her

Chapter 2: Remember Her

"Satoshi-kun!" I throw my arms around his neck when I realize what's happening. He's awake! Satoshi-kun's awake!

"Muu… You're embarrassing me, Shion…" he mutters and I laugh. It's so good to hear him say "muu" again and I swim in the way he says my name, remembering that time years earlier when he'd called it beautiful.

"There's no one around anyway," I point out, beaming. It suddenly hits me though that he had Hinamizawa Syndrome, and a serious case of it at that. "Wait, are you okay?" I pull away to look for… What? Scatches? What should I be looking for? "You don't feel… violent…? Scared…?" I can't think of a better way to put it, my thoughts are so jumbled.

"Huh? Um… I don't think so…" He replies, looking confused. Does he not remember what happened before he had to be kept here? Does he not remember that he… That he killed his aunt? "I… what…?" he whispers and I realize I was thinking aloud. I avert my gaze when I see the shock on his face, not knowing what to say.

* * *

><p>I spend the next half hour explaining things to him. Apparently he'd woken a little after I'd started talking earlier, but he doesn't know that several years have passed, so I try to explain to him what's happened in that time.<p>

He really doesn't remember killing his aunt. Could I have been wrong about him doing it? No. I'm sure that Satoshi-kun was the one who committed the act. It's probably just his subconscious trying to stop him from falling back to level 5. Either dissociative or lacunar amnesia, I believe, digging into my memories of from what I've learned in my classes. It's not like it's unheard of.

"How's Satako doing?" he suddenly cuts in, breaking my train of thought. He's looking at the teddy bear sitting on the other side of the room. It's the one he bought for Satoko's birthday just before he'd disappeared.

"I'm not really sure… I made sure to take care of her like you'd asked while I was still here, but I haven't seen her since I got back. Onee said she's doing okay though, and I'd asked her, Onee I mean, to call me if anything happened to Satako…" I feel guilty. Satoshi-kun had entrusted Satako to me and I'd gone gallivanting off to Tokyo at the first chance I'd gotten. "…Wait." Getting an idea, I stand up and walk over to the phone that Irie had pointed out before.

I pick it up and hear it ringing. A second later, Irie answers. "_Help!_ Irie, help me!" I yell, screaming once before harshly slamming the phone back down. I turn back around to see Satoshi-kun looking shocked and bewildered. "Just having a little fun," I assure him, winking.

The door bursts open less than a minute later. It's Irie of course, his hair dishevelled and a look of panic on his face. "Can we go see Satoko?" I ask brightly as his gaze flits back and forth between Satoshi-kun and I a couple times. "Satoshi-kun wants to see her and I'm sure she'd like to see him as well. I've been talking with him and he seems to be alright. But one other thing. Satoshi-kun was supposed to be sedated, wasn't he? Do mind explaining to me why he's awake now?"

"…Uh… Well… To answer you're last question, I decided not to give him his sedatives for the afternoon when you came. His vitals and brain waves had been good recently as I'd mentioned, so I thought I'd let you two see each other since I know you'd wanted to. That's why I told you about the phone…" he explains nervously.

"And about seeing Satoko?" Satoshi-kun prompts.

"…I suppose it's fine," Irie replies after a moment's hesitation, "Your clothes from the day you came here are over there." He points to a shelf where a few swatches of fabric are visible. "I assume you want to change out of the scrubs. Can I talk to you for a minute, Shion?"

I nod, surprised but happy that he had given consent. I follow him out, looking back quickly as I close the door to see Satoshi-kun testing his weight as he stands. His muscles have probably atrophied a fair bit over the last couple years. Please be okay.

"You're sure he's stable?" Irie questions me once the door has clicked shut.

"Looks that way. We talked for a while and he doesn't seem much different than when I first met him."

"What about his aunt? Has he accepted that he killed her?"

I flinch, hesitating a moment. So Irie also thinks Satoshi-kun did it. "…He doesn't seem to remember it. I think he probably has situation-specific amnesia. …But I told him it was his doing without thinking. Was that wrong? What if he's really innocent and I made him think otherwise?" I'm panicking now. What have I done? What if this causes me to lose him again?

"…I think it's best that he knows from the start rather than risking that he be reminded of it at a bad time. There's no doubt in my mind that it was him. He admitted it to me when he fell to level 5." Irie assures me. So Satoshi-kun really did do it then… "Just make sure to keep an eye on him. I'm worried about him going out, but I trust your judgement. I'll just run a few quick tests. If all goes well, he can go see Satoko for a little while.

* * *

><p>"Chie-sensei?" I ask my old teacher after knocking quietly, the entire class staring. "Would you mind if I talk to Satoko for a few minutes?"<p>

"Sonozaki-san? What's this about?"

"There's someone here who wants to see her," I reply, trying to hide my smile.

"…Alright. Go ahead, Houjou-san," she answers after a breath.

At the words, Satoko gets up slowly and walks over to where I stand by the door. "Who is it who wants to see me, Shion-san?"

"You'll find out soon enough." I lead her to the front entrance and, as we step outside, she sees Satoshi-kun leaning nervously against a wall, loosely hugging the giant teddy. He looks as shocked to see how mature looking Satoko's gotten as she is to see him at all.

"…Nii-Nii…?"

"Satoko…!" He pushes off the wall and faces her, handing me the bear as Satoko rushes to him, embracing him as her eyes fill with tears.

"You're back…! You're finally back!" she cries into his shirt as I hear whispers behind me and turn to see several of her classmates staring. I shoot Rika a look and she smiles in response before shooing the others away.

When I turn around again, Satoshi-kun looks at me before casting his eyes to the bear and I notice that his eyes are wet. Despite all the hardship I know he's gone through, it's the first time I've seen him even close to crying. Happy for him, I offer the teddy back and he takes it.

"I knows it's a bit late but…" he holds the bear out to his sister, smiling the smile that I love, "Happy birthday, Satako."

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN:_**_I apologize for this chapter being late, but here it is! If all goes according to plan, the plot should kick off next chapter. I'm still trying to work out the details of course, but I've written up an outline of what I want to happen, so yay! I hope I got the stuff about amnesia in this chapter correct. I just grabbed it off Wikipedia which obviously isn't always accurate and then the only things I know about psychology is what I've taught myself since I can't get into my school's pyschology class until next year..._

_Anyway, I intend to do a fair bit of writing this week. The reason for this, as well as just feeling guilty for not uploading very often, is that along with all the fics I currently have going, I have two Madoka Magica fics and one more Vocaloid fic that I want to write... Damn you imagination._

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni was originally created by Ryukishi07 and 07th Expansion. All characters and settings were created and are owned by them. I own nothing but my annoyingly overactive imagination.


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